Printing methods at the time of printing image data read from a manuscript on recording paper include single-sided printing, double-sided printing, and aggregate printing. In the case of the single-sided printing, one page of image data is printed on one side of a sheet of recording paper. On the other hand, in the case of the double-sided printing, two pages of image data are respectively printed on both sides of a sheet of recording paper, and in the case of the aggregate printing, a plurality of pages of image data is printed on one side of a sheet of recording paper with an image to be printed being reduced. Such double-sided printing and aggregate printing are eco-printing having a smaller amount of recording paper consumption than the single-sided printing, and therefore there is proposed a copying machine that proactively utilizes the double-sided printing or aggregate printing as one of resource saving measures (e.g., Patent Literature 1 (JP-A2003-260857)). Also, in some cases, by using so-called scratch paper of which one side is printed and only the other side is usable, paper resources are effectively utilized.
In the case of PC printing that prints document data on a PC (personal computer), which is connected to a printing apparatus through a LAN (local area network), through the network, the document data is printed according to print conditions retained by the PC (e.g., Patent Literatures 2 (JP-A2005-217878) and 3 (JP-A2008-292826). Such PC printing is sometimes performed without knowing sizes of sheets of recording paper actually contained in the printing apparatus, or without realizing that double-sided printing or printing using sheets of scratch paper is available. For this reason, there is a problem of, even though the eco-printing or the scratch paper printing is available, performing the normal single-sided printing.
Therefore, in order to solve it, it may be possible to, regardless of print settings on the PC, forcibly perform the eco-printing or scratch paper printing of the document data transferred from the PC. However, such a configuration causes a problem that even in the case of desiring to perform the normal single-sided printing, the eco-printing or scratch paper printing is performed.
Also, Patent Literature 2 describes a printing apparatus that compares the print conditions set in the PC and preliminarily retaining print conditions with each other, and if the two sets of print conditions are different from each other, transmits a message prompting a change of the print conditions to the PC. This printing apparatus can teach an operator of the PC that eco-printing or scratch paper printing is available, and as needed change the print conditions. However, in the printing apparatus described in Patent Literature 2, the message prompting a change of the print conditions is only displayed on the PC, and therefore the operator of the PC cannot identify the sizes of the sheets of recording paper contained in the printing apparatus from the message. For this reason, there is a problem that in the case of desiring to use the eco-printing or scratch paper printing, how print settings on the PC should be changed, or what print conditions the current print conditions can be actually changed to is not easily known.